Geneva Green Market: Geneva, Illinois – A Local Food Green Farmers Market

Karen Stark has a challenge for all suburbanites: eat only locally produced meats, grains, fruits and vegetables this Thanksgiving.

It certainly sounds like a daunting task until Stark, a Geneva mom and coordinator of the town’s winter farmers market, explains that within a 100-mile radius of the ‘burbs you can find farmers raising free-range turkeys and beef, growing sweet potatoes and pumpkins and milling flour for biscuits and pie crusts. Cast the net a little wider and you can enjoy wild rice from Minnesota and cranberries from Wisconsin bogs and chestnuts from Michigan. (read more)  …”Give thanks for food”.

Giving thanks to the season’s harvests was a centuries-old tradition held by most cultures around the world. After the autumn harvest, communities held long feasts celebrating the season’s harvest and gatherings for the winter months. It wasn’t till the mid-1600’s that Thanksgiving, as we know it today, began to take shape. Fasting forward several hundred years, it was as recently as 1941 that President Roosevelt signed a bill that established the fourth Thursday of every November as Thanksgiving Day. This has been followed by every state in the union since 1956. Today Thanksgiving still remains centered around food and feasting surrounded by family and friends.

In the spirit of giving and being thankful we at the Geneva Green Market, NFP and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the chiefs, GGM, NFP members, merchants and volunteers whose continual hard work and dedication make this market feasible season after season. We would especially like to thank our faithful farmers, vendors and customers.   Join us in Thanking our farmers and in showing how much we appreciate them in providing fresh food from there fields to our tables.

If you haven’t ordered your Thanksgiving Day turkey there is still time to do so. Visit us at genevagreenmarket.org/farmers. If you did not pre-order a turkey, there will be some turkeys available for purchase at the market on a first come,  first serve basis. Come early to get yours.

Feeling overwhelmed by your big bird? Join us from 9-12 as “Talk Turkey to Me” author Renee Ferguson joins us to answer your turkey questions. She will have copies of her book available for purchase. Full of how- to’s, how not to’s, tips, instructions and recipes that can be used year round. A great resource to have on hand for those times Renee can’t personally be in your kitchen. She will sign copies, which can be a nice, personalized hostess gift.

If all this talk of turkey got your tummies rumbling be sure to stay afterwards as Jennifer Downing of Nourish shows you how to dry brine and bake a Black Spanish turkey. She’ll also show you a few excellent sides that will pair up perfectly with your bird. The best part is that’ll you’ll find most of the ingredients right at the market. After a tasty sample, enjoy a wine sample from Galena Cellars Vineyard & Winery-Geneva.  All this should provide great inspiration for our 3rd annual Thanksgiving Localvore Challenge. Deadline for submissions is December 1st.

From our family to yours

Happy Thanksgiving!

To check out what Matt is cooking at Moveable Feast for your Thanksgiving Dinner.

This year the Geneva Green Market, NFP is having a localvore essay contest to accompany the Localvore Thanksgiving Challenge. To participate one must strive to come as close to eating 100% locally grown food for your Thanksgiving meal as possible. To participate, write a 250-word essay, discussing the experience of purchasing local ingredients as well as eating the meal itself.

The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate for the Community Winter Market, and their essay will be published in the GGM, NFP’s newsletter. Email your essays to genevagreenmarket [at] gmail [dot] com by 12/1/09.

Be a part of the “Localvore Thanksgiving Challenge“, and get your locally grown ingredients for your favorite recipes at the Geneva Green Market – Thanksgiving Festival on Sunday, November 23, 2008. The Geneva Green Market makes it easy for you to prepare a feast that is 100% locally grown and produced. The Thanksgiving Festival is a wonderful alternative to a trip to the grocery store. Not only can you find everything you need for Thanksgiving, but local artisans will be selling beautifully crafted and socially responsible Christmas and hostess gifts.

Betsy Sanchez will be baking Walnut Cranberry Linzer Tarts, Pumpkin Pecan Tarts, Pumpkin Cake Roll, Swedish Cardamom Rolls (Bullar), Swedish Cardamom Braids (Pulla), Butter Braids, Biscotti for purchase.

The Location is at Inglenook Pantry, 11 North 5th Street, Geneva IL 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Localvore Brunch will be served with the farmers’ products from 9:30 to 2 p.m., so you can make Thanksgiving shopping an afternoon experience for the whole family.

If there is a particular ingredient that you are looking for, you can make a request by 1 p.m. at the Geneva Winter Market on Saturday, November 15th. Call to pre-order pies and make brunch reservations at 630-377-0373.

You can pre-order a Heritage Bourbon Red Turkey from Caveny Farm Heritage poultry at www.cavenyfarm.com. They will be available for pick-up at the Thanksgiving Festival; also local artisans will be selling their wears.  Klean Kanteens, $15.50-$20.00 will be for sale from Dianne Peterson’s wood toys and silks.

Local Wines

Little Traveler is your destination for some interesting and tasty wines to complement your holiday table.  We will have available for tasting a tart and refreshing Cranberry Wine and a soft delicately sweet Pear Wine from Lynfred Winery in Roselle, Illinois and from August Hill in Utica, Illinois.
We will also have available for sampling Traminette, similar to a Gewurtztraminer and Trapolino, a light bodied red served slightly chilled.  For those of you that lean towards a sweeter varietal, we will have their Sweet Catawba, remincsent of citrus and fruit candy.  It is just about time to warm up the Glogg and we will be bring along Glunz Family Winery’s Glogg, from Grayslake, Illinos…..perfect balance of sweetness and spiciness to warm you up on these cold winter nights.

Because we are only tasting these at the Geneva Green Market Thanksgiving Festival,  The Little Traveler is offering a $5.00 discount coupon good for your purchase of a bottle wine at The Little Traveler during November 24 – November 26, 2008 so you can enjoy these libations during your Thanksgiving Feasts and beyond.

Meet the Local Author – Book signing – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Talk Turkey to Me”, by Renee Ferguson,
“Now coming to a town near you”, by Gina Olszowski